Wait! No Paint! (Hardcover)

by Bruce Whatley (Author, Illustrator) "Once upon a time there were three little pigs..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In this cheeky burlesque, the Three Little Pigs tangle with a wolf and an unseen illustrator who is short on art supplies. The tale begins as usual, with the pigs constructing homes of straw, sticks and bricks. "The first little pig had just finished building his house when he heard a splash. `Oops!' said a Voice from nowhere in particular. `I spilled my juice.' " An authentic-looking glass and its shiny liquid contents lie across the cartoon image, drenching the white page and two-dimensional straw house. "The house collapse[s] with a wet plop" before the big bad wolf can blow it down, and the soggy pig scurries to his brother's place. Later, the artist runs out of red paint and whimsically substitutes chartreuse for the pigs' customary rosy tint. The pigs don't find this amusing. Whatley (Captain Pajamas: Defender of the Universe) saddles the book with an unmemorable title that doesn't do justice to his comical trompe l'oeil spreads. Photorealistic paintbrushes, whittled pencils and squeezed-out paint tubes are superimposed on stylized cartoons, and the pigs confront their glib creator eye to eye. All the characters, wolf included, behave like frustrated actors with a maddening director. By interrupting familiar characters with technical concerns, Whatley turns the story into a theater piece in which offstage antics appear front and center. Ages 4-8.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 3-Although familiar elements from "The Three Pigs" are included here, several threads are new. A cup of juice spills on the first pig's straw house, causing it to collapse before the wolf blows on it, and the wolf's nose is erased and redone after he slams into the door of the second pig. It turns out that the force behind these events is the Voice, which belongs to the illustrator. He has run out of red paint and so the pigs are white. After making them green, patterned, and polka-dotted, and realizing that with no red paint there can be no fire to boil the wolf, the four characters are given a whole new identity. Children will laugh at the last picture in which the characters are placed into the story of "Goldilocks." The book will be of great help in starting discussions on what an illustrator does. The pigs' expressions are priceless; their exasperation at being the wrong color comes through clearly. Whatley's accessible variation joins David Wiesner's unique vision and masterful technique in The Three Pigs (Clarion, 2001) and Barry Moser's humor in The Three Little Pigs (Little, Brown, 2001).
Debbie Stewart, Grand Rapids Public Library, MI
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (June 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060282703
• ISBN-13: 978-0060282707
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,002,285 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Three Little Pigs with an Unusual Twist....., August 9, 2001

By	Roz Levine (Virginia) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

You know the story...Once there were three little pigs who built three little houses: The first with straw, the second with sticks and the third with bricks. Then there was the big bad wolf who wanted to huff and puff and blow their houses down and eat them. And of course the illustrator...Ah, this is where the usual story takes a left turn and becomes a hilarious UNusual tale..... Bruce Whately has outdone himself with this very clever and humorous picture book that adds a clumsy illustrator with all kinds of paint problems to the mix. First he spills his juice on the straw house, it collapses into a mushy mess and the poor pig barely gets out alive. Then he runs out of red paint, so the pigs aren't pink anymore and look like ghosts. He tries to remedy the problem with another color, green, but all agree that green pigs just won't work. In the meantime, the wolf has climbed up on the roof and is about ready to slide down the chimney, so the pigs decide to build a fire to keep him out. Only without red paint, they can't build a really hot fire and without a fire, the wolf will have no trouble coming in and eating them up. The story is definitely getting out of control and that's when one little pig says the magic words: "We don't want to be in this story anymore!"..... Mr Whately's witty text, full of jokes, wordplay and surprises, coupled with his marvelously expressive and "sometimes" colorful illustrations, is a laugh out loud romp youngsters 4-8 will want to read again and again. With an unexpected twist at the end to really tickle your funny bone, Wait! No Paint! is a book that shouldn't be missed and a terrific addition to all home bookshelves.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great new 3 Little Pigs Journey, June 10, 2001

By	Tara "saltyreader4" (Kutztown, Pa United States) - See all my reviews

You will laugh out loud reading this book to your child(ren) It's a funny tale about the misadventures of the Illustrator and the retelling of the 3 little pigs. First there's a a glass of juice that spills then redrawing the big bad wolf and then the worst the Illustrator runs out of red paint. This is a great juncture betweeen the drawn world and the real world.

The illustrations our beautifully done.

I don't purchase many hard bound childrens boks but this one is worth the money.

Add this to your collection of Three Little Pigs stories. ~ 3 Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig ~ The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!

5.0 out of 5 stars Slapstick Silliness: Wait! No Paint!, March 11, 2007

By	Just One More Book! Children's Book Podcast "... (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wait! No Paint! (Paperback)

It's a bad day for the Three Little Pigs. Full of slapstick silliness and colourful character/illustrator interactions, this twist on the traditional tale tickles our two.